The Devouring Demon Ring!

An ambush!

Chen Feng tried to strike again and knock Gao Ruoyuntian unconscious, but this time the man twisted aside and dodged it. Gao Ruoyuntian had already learned Chen Feng’s attack pattern, and knowing that Chen Feng was lurking nearby, waiting for an opening, he sensed the ambush the moment it came. With his sharp instincts, he evaded in an instant.

The first time, Gao Ruoyuntian had failed to escape because he did not know whether Chen Feng was nearby, nor could he predict how Chen Feng would strike; thus, he was caught off guard. But it was never easy to keep a high-level professional player stunned in succession. As a wielder of a ring of power, if Gao Ruoyuntian truly lacked skill, his ring would have been stripped from him long ago.

The battle had, in truth, already been decided; only Chen Feng and the dwarf paladin had delayed too long in joining hands, each hoping the other would press harder. What Chen Feng wanted was the ring of power and the legendary one-handed sword. As for the dwarf paladin, he wanted everything, whether it belonged to Gao Ruoyuntian or Chen Feng.

Machine-gun barrage!

The dwarf paladin commanded the super-mechanical golem to rake the area with heavy fire. No matter how fast Gao Ruoyuntian moved, no matter how fiercely he changed his footing, he could not outrun bullets, could he? Gao Ruoyuntian vanished into stealth; for three seconds, even if struck, he would not be revealed. Yet he did not know that Chen Feng had planted true sight all around the area long ago, and even in stealth he was still being attacked.

“Duancheng Feng, you helped Atlantis kill me. Do you really think he will let you go? Don’t be so naive. He is a greedy man without end.”

Gao Ruoyuntian knew he could not keep holding out. His two opponents were both at his level, and each possessed far too many means. How was he supposed to kill them?

“He can’t do anything to me. Worry about yourself!” Chen Feng would not waver. He had to kill this Japanese bastard first; as for his struggle with the dwarf paladin, there would be time enough for that later.

Invisible Flash Kill!

A ring skill of Gao Ruoyuntian’s, it drove him to launch a furious assault on the enemies around him, striking a single target four times in rapid succession. Gao Ruoyuntian’s target was Chen Feng. With a legendary one-handed sword of his own and tremendous burst power, he should have been able to crush him. Moreover, Chen Feng wore leather armor, making him easy to cut down. But Chen Feng, who had long since transformed into bear form and begun grinding him down in close combat, immediately activated Savage Defense to withstand the assault. With the blessing of Dragon Stance, Chen Feng’s health had reached six thousand, and his defense had risen as well. Even if Gao Ruoyuntian tried to trade blows head-on, it would be hard to tell who would fall first.

Slaughter Feast!

The ring’s skill failed to kill Chen Feng, leaving Gao Ruoyuntian no choice but to unleash Slaughter Feast in a desperate barrage. Its hallmark was that it attacked once every half second, seven strikes in all, allowing rapid teleportation around the field. But if there were more than two enemies in range, then all the attacks could not focus on a single target; they had to alternate between targets. In other words, Gao Ruoyuntian could still strike Chen Feng four times.

Strong Vanish!

A ring-granted skill: he entered stealth and became invulnerable for two seconds. Because true sight was in effect, Slaughter Feast could still attack Chen Feng, but with Chen Feng invulnerable for those two seconds, the damage dealt to him would be greatly reduced. At most, only two of the strikes would land, which was not nearly enough to kill him.

Once Gao Ruoyuntian left the range of true sight, Slaughter Feast could no longer touch Chen Feng at all. The most likely reason Gao Ruoyuntian had pressed so hard for the kill was to force him into a sliver of health, so that Atlantis might be tempted to strike; then Gao Ruoyuntian would have a chance to survive. Chen Feng would not grant him that chance.

Since Slaughter Feast could not kill Chen Feng, Gao Ruoyuntian could only turn on the twin wyvern and the ghost rhinoceros. The twin wyvern was carved apart and dropped dead at once. The ghost rhinoceros, with its powerful physical immunity, managed to hang on. Just as the final strike of Slaughter Feast was about to fall, Gao Ruoyuntian appeared within twenty meters of Atlantis, no longer attacking, but instead activating Sprint to flee.

An ambush!

Chen Feng, who had long anticipated Gao Ruoyuntian’s methods, had been waiting all this time. He triggered Rush, his movement speed matching Gao Ruoyuntian’s, making the ambush even easier. Gao Ruoyuntian had thought Chen Feng had run, only to discover that Chen Feng had been waiting right here for his appearance. It seemed his desperate assault had done little to Chen Feng after all.

Gao Ruoyuntian, now controlled and unable to sacrifice himself, had no more room to yield. Chen Feng fired off two skills, and Gao Ruoyuntian was already at a sliver of health. At that moment, the dwarf paladin rode over in the super-mechanical golem, the chainsaw in his right hand slashing down toward Chen Feng. At the same time, the dwarf paladin leapt out of the golem as well, and with a hammer in hand, conjured a giant phantom that smashed toward Chen Feng.

This was the paladin’s Hammer of Judgement, capable of stunning a foe.

Faced with the dwarf paladin’s double assault, Chen Feng immediately activated the ring’s Time and Space Traverse skill.

[Time and Space Traverse]: A temporal skill. You slip into the current of time and space, instantly moving within a hundred-meter range. Each attack is guaranteed to crit, lasting eight seconds, with up to five instant relocations. Cooldown: ten minutes. Cost: none.

-1054

Chen Feng’s Crushing Claw struck Gao Ruoyuntian, taking away the last sliver of his life. At that exact moment, Atlantis activated his invulnerability skill and reached for Gao Ruoyuntian’s corpse. Chen Feng reached as well, and the two of them each obtained one item.

Chen Feng got Gao Ruoyuntian’s invisible ring of power, while Atlantis obtained the legendary one-handed sword. Both of Gao Ruoyuntian’s pieces were guaranteed drops upon death, so they naturally fell now that he had been killed. Chen Feng had struck a fraction faster than Atlantis, but he had not wanted the legendary one-handed sword anyway; it was a samurai blade, suited only to thieves. Although it could be used in fusion, Chen Feng felt that even fused, the weapon would not be especially impressive. Better to take the ring.

With the ring in hand, Chen Feng immediately vanished into space and fled through the hidden passage. The dwarf paladin, having obtained the legendary one-handed sword, leaped back onto the super-mechanical golem and fled in the opposite direction. Both men understood clearly that they could not linger here any longer, or else the two of them might well end up fighting each other. Since they had each secured what they wanted, there was no need to take further risks.

“I never expected the one you wanted to be the ring of power,” the dwarf paladin said. He had come for the legendary one-handed sword, since he had no legendary equipment of his own. The weapon did not suit him, but it could be used in fusion. A legendary piece of gear was not easy to come by; in a single national server, there might only be one or two people who possessed one.

“Dwarves may have short arms, but your hand speed is truly something...” Chen Feng had struck first, yet still he had not been able to take both drops. It was rather infuriating. The dwarf’s arms were short by nature, so Chen Feng should have had a great advantage, but Atlantis was no ordinary man. When his hand speed erupted, it was even faster than Chen Feng’s.

“You flatter me, you flatter me!” The dwarf paladin had already begun channeling his hearthstone back to town. He did not want to remain here. In a place like this, Chen Feng had the advantage in the darkness, and he absolutely could not afford to die here.

Chen Feng had no intention of killing Atlantis at all. That fellow was too formidable, a truly dreadful enemy. What interested Chen Feng now was how the Blood Ring’s attributes would change after devouring Gao Ruoyuntian’s invisible ring of power.

Blood Ring

Scattered artifact, right-hand ring, guaranteed drop on death

Equipment requirement: none

+6% life steal

+24% health

Granted skills: Time and Space Traverse, Strong Vanish

Bonus effect: 12% chance to negate all attacks

Bonus effect: Critical hits have a 27% chance to deal 3.2 times critical damage

Bonus effect: Attacking from stealth guarantees a critical hit and grants an additional 22 rage

Devour: Absorb other rings of power to enhance all of the ring’s attributes overall. Devoured rings: 1

Description: Every space connected to the land of Ograth possesses a ring of power.

The life-steal effect had risen from five percent to six percent, a modest increase. Health had gone from twenty percent to twenty-four percent, which was fairly decent. The chance to negate all attacks had climbed from ten percent to twelve percent, again a small increase. The trigger chance for 3.2 times critical damage had risen from twenty-five percent to twenty-seven percent. The extra rage had increased from twenty to twenty-two. Though each improvement was slight, taken together they were far from trivial.

Leaving the cave, Chen Feng continued searching for fragments of the Assault Armor near the southern islands of Ghana Sea. What disappointed him most was that after flying through the entire night, he had not found the slightest clue about the fragment.

Atlantis had once been to the southern islands of Ghana Sea. Might he know something? Chen Feng was growing tired of searching blindly; it would waste far too much time. So he simply asked Atlantis.

“Assault Armor fragment? I’m not too sure, but I do know of a place that might have one.”

The dwarf paladin finally understood why Chen Feng had come to the southern islands of Ghana Sea: he was looking for a divine artifact fragment. He did not know the fragment itself, but he did know that the rulers of this region were abyssal murlocs, who had joined the Horde and were responsible for guarding the area.

“What do you want in return?”

Chen Feng knew full well that the dwarf paladin would not tell him so easily; he would surely try to squeeze him for a price.

“That depends on your sincerity. You pocketed an entire treasure hoard, so you must have quite a few valuables!” The dwarf paladin was in no hurry. Since Chen Feng had taken the contents of the fourth treasure hoard, he was clearly a little rich man now. This was the best possible moment to extort him.

“The treasures were mostly gold, materials, and gems. As for equipment, there were only silver and gold-tier items. I doubt you’d care for those. There was an epic refining stone in one of the chests, though; I think that suits you best!” Chen Feng did not have many things suitable to offer. He was certainly not giving up the ice-seal stone, but an epic refining stone was acceptable. Trading a purple-rarity item for a fragment, Chen Feng felt that was a very good deal.

An epic refining stone!

The dwarf paladin drew in a sharp breath. He had never seen such a treasure, but he was an exceedingly greedy man. “Add one white gold coin, or find it yourself!”

“I’ll find it myself.”

It was not likely Chen Feng would accept losing a white gold coin. Not even fifty thousand gold would he want to part with, let alone white gold. He could simply exchange the epic refining stone for gold and hire people to search for certain special locations; that would be perfectly fine.

“Fine! We’re friends, after all. I’ll tell you. Wait for me; I’m coming over now to take you there.”

The dwarf paladin had a teleportation item much like Chen Feng’s, and he could reach him quickly. After agreeing on a meeting place, he teleported over.

The abyssal murloc nest was not somewhere the dwarf paladin dared to enter. The monsters inside were at least level forty, and the strongest reached level sixty; it was not a place they could go into now. Selling this information for an epic refining stone was a very good deal indeed.